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THE 


Youth  Movement 
in  America 

By  R>  M;  WHITNEY 


“The  new  struggle  of  the  working  class 
in  Germany  can  assume  such  proportions 
that  they  will  be  in  a  position  to  bring 
about  for  us  the  beginning  of  the  Socialist 
era  in  one  of  the  most  important  parts 
of  the  world.  The  young  generation  of 
proletarian  youth  which  has  grown  up 
since  the  great  victorious  Russian  revolu¬ 
tion  of  1917  and  the  unsuccessful  German 
Revolution  of  1918,  is  the  one  to  decide 
in  a  great  measure  the  fate  of  the  ap¬ 
proaching  crisis.  The  German  League 
of  Youth  must  be  the  light  cavalry  of  the 
proletarian  army  which  is  entering  into 
difficult  struggles  against  capitalism.  The 
Communist  Youth  of  Russia,  and  with 
it  the  other  sections  of  the  Young  Com¬ 
munist  International,  must  consider  it  the 
greatest  honor  to  help  its  brother  army, 
the  Youth  of  Germany,  and  through  it 
the  German  Revolution.” 

From  letter  of  Zinovieff,  President  of 
the  Communist  International,  of  Mos¬ 
cow,  printed  in  The  Worker,  Communist 
Weekly  published  in  America,  October 
13,  1923. 


Price  Five  Cents. 


Published  by 

The  American  Defense  Society,  Inc. 

154  Nassau  Street,  New  Yo-ik  City. 

^2-3^ 


gift 

AUTHOR 

FEB  £0  *24 


V 


.Vi  5 


THE  YOUTH  MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA. 

By  R.  M.  WHITNEY, 

Director,  Washington  Bureau,  American  Defense 
Society,  Incorporated. 

THE  NATIONAL  STUDENT  FORUM  would 
like  to  be  recognized  as  the  intelligence  back  of  the 
Youth  Movement  in  America.  Purporting  to  be  an 
open  forum,  it  is  working  double  tides  for  Socialism, 
and  the  sort  of  Socialism  which  is  only  another  name 
for  Communium.  It  works  in  cooperation  with 
such  organizations  as  the  American  Civil  Liberties 
Union. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  National  Student  Forum, 
and  the  other  organizations  which  it  supports  by  its 
sympathy,  to  undermine  and  sink,  or  overthrow,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  ar\d  to  set  up  in 
this  country  a  soviet  form  of  government,  such  as 
Russia  now  boasts. 

This  ultimate  goal  toward  which  Liberalists,  So¬ 
cialists,  Pacifists,  Internationalists,  Intelligentzia  and 
Communists  alike  are  striving  is  always  referred  to 
as  “the  new  social  -order.” 

Modeled  on  Intercollegiate  Socialist  Society. 

The  National  Student  Forum  is  not  a  pioneer  in 
its  field.  The  Intercollegiate  Socialist  Society,  to 
quote  its  founder,  Upton  Sinclair,  was  the  first  or¬ 
ganized  efforts  of  college  students  to  educate  them¬ 
selves,  and,  incidentally,  to  educate  their  educators.” 
Mr.  Sinclair  goes  on  to  explain:  / 

“We  were  careful  to  specify  our  purposfe:  ‘To 
promote  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  study  of 
Socialism;  but  even  with  that  moderate  state¬ 
ment,  only  a  few  institutions  would  let  us  in 
under  our  own  evil  name,  AND  WE  HAD.  TO 
DISGUISE  OURSELVES  AS  LIBERAL 
SOCIETIES  AND  OPEN  FORUMS  AND 
SOCIAL  SCIENCE  CLUBS.’” 

Later,  as  Mr.  Sinclair  himself  says,  “the  name, 
‘Socialism’  became  so  unpopular  .  .  .  that  the  or¬ 
ganization  now  calls  itself  the  League  for  Industrial 
Democracy.”  But  it  is  a  change  in  name  only.  The 
League  for  Industrial  Democracy  is  working  as  har<J 
for  Socialism  and  “the  new  social  order”  as  ever  the 
Intercollegiate  Socialist  League  could  have  worked. 
Harry  W.  Laidler  is  still  its  secretary,  and  one  of  the 
board  of  directors.  Alexander  Trachtenberg,  ad¬ 
vocate  of  direct  action,  contributor  to  the  LIBERA¬ 
TOR,  Communist  Monthly,  is  still  the  executive 
head.  Trachtenberg  “represented  America”  at  the 


3 


meeting  of  the  “Enlarged  Executive”  in  Moscow  last 
June  (1923). 

Norman  Thomas,  then  one  of  its  directors, 
summed  up  the  preceding  year’s  work  of  the  League 
for  Industrial  Democracy  in  an  article  in  the  New 
York  Call  of  June  21,  1923,  in  which  he  said  that: 

“Its  representatives  have  spoken  in  more  than 
50  colleges  and  universities  before  college 
classes,  forums,  assemblies,  chapel  audiences  and 
faculty  groups,  ESTABLISHING  IN  THE 
GREAT  MAJORITY  OF  THESE  INSTITU¬ 
TIONS  SOME  MORE  OR  LESS  ENDUR¬ 
ING  CONNECTION  THROUGH  STUDENT 
ORGANIZATIONS.” 

The  CALL,  while  ostensibly  fighting  the  Com¬ 
munists,  carried  in  its  upper  left-hand  corner  the 
Communist  slogan,  “Workers  of  the  World,  unite! 
You  have  nothing  to  lose  but  your  chains.” 

The  Worker,  which  fights  the  right  wing  Socia¬ 
lists,  and  makes  no  pretense  of  loyalty  toward  any¬ 
thing  but  the.  Communist  International  at  Moscow, 
carries  in  its  upper  left-hand  corner  of  its  first  page 
the  slogan: 

“Workers  of  the  World,  unite!  You  have  nothing 
to  lose  but  your  chains.” 

Norman  Thomas,  in  1923,  took  over  the  editing  of 
the  New  York  Call.  Soon  afterward  the  Communist 
slogan  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner  disappeared.  Still 
later,  even  the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed — to 
the  New  York  Leader — but  its  policy  was  not  * 
changed  up  to  the  time  it  suspended  publication.  It  \ 
remained  the  organ  for  the  Socialist  Party,  and  Nor-  ; 
man  Thomas,  its  editor,  is  still  a  member  of  the 
American  Civil  Liberties  Union,  and  a  leader  in  the 
Fellowship  of  Reconciliation,  and  a  writer  of  Social- 
istic  pamphlets  and  articles.  He  is  also  a  lecturer  on  ■ 
pacifism,  at  $100  the  lecture. 

Norman  Thomas  is  one  of  the  Literary  Advisers  to 
The  New  Student. 

Upton  Sinclair,  contributing  editor  of  the  Liberator, 
Communist  monthly,  founder  of  the  I.  W.  W.  and 
the  American  Civil  Liberties  Union,  follows  his 
dissertation  on  the  League  for  Industrial  Democracy 
with  this: 

“Recently  another  student  organization  has 
entered  the  field,  the.  National  Student'  Forum, 
product  of  the  labors  of  a  group  of  young  Har¬ 
vard  Liberals,  with  John  Rothschild  as  secre¬ 
tary.” 

John  Rothschild  is  a  Socialist.  He  admits  that  he 
is  a  Socialist,  but  he  said,  when  a  protest  was  made  to 
him  against  tunning  the  student  bodies  socialistic 
through  his  National  Student  Forum,  that  he  did 
not  intend  to  make  the  organization  a  Socialist  body. 
Mr.  Rothschild,  if  he  was  speaking  the  truth,  must 
have  let  the  organization  get  away  from-  him. 

4 


Constituent  Organizations. 

The  National  Student  Forum  is  to  the  Socialists 
and  Communists  in  colleges  and  universities  what  the 
National  Council  for  Prevention  of  War  is  to  the 
Pacifists  and  Internationalists — a  clearing  house  for 
their  organizations.  It  now  lists  as  its  constituent 
organizations : 

Barnard  Social  Science  Club. 

Bryn  Mawr  Liberal  Club. 

Dartmouth  Round  Table. 

George  Washington  University  Free  Lance  Club. 
Harvard  Student  Liberal  Club. 

Hood  College  Contemporary  Club. 

Hollins  (Virginia)  Student  Forum. 

Howard  (colored)  Student  Progressive  Club. 
Mt.  Holyoke  Forum. 

Miami  University  Round  Table. 

New  York  University  Law  School  Liberal  Club. 
Northwestern  University  Liberal  League. 
Oberlin  College  Liberal  Club. 

Park  College  Social  Science  Club. 

Rockford  College  International  Relations  Club. 
Radcliffe  Liberal  Club. 

Stanford  University  Forum. 

Swarthmore  Polity  Club. 

University  of  Chicago  Liberal  Club. 

University  of  Colorado  Forum. 

Union  Theological  Seminary  Contemporary 
Club. 

Vassar  College  Political  Association. 

Wellesley  College  Forum. 

Western  College  Forum 
Yale  Liberal  Club. 

THE  NEW  STUDENT,  “an  intercollegiate  fort¬ 
nightly  published  by  the  National  Student  Forum,” 
in  the  preamble  to  the  constitution  of  the  National 
Student  Forum,  says  that  the  students: 

“dedicate  this  organization  to  the  scientifically 
enquiring  mind;  they  declare  it  unbiased  in  any 
controversy,  yet  permitting  within  itself  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  every  bias;  they  declare  its  one 
principle  to  be  freedom  of  expression.” 

Radical  In  Aims. 

This  “freedom  of  expression”  about  which  they 
make  such  ado  seems  to  apply  only  to  revolutionary 
deas.  If  a  student,  an  outside  speaker,  or  a  profes¬ 
sor  in  one  of  the  colleges  has  anything  to  say  along 
>ane,  conservative  lines,  the  National  Student 
Forum  is  not  interested,  or  expresses  itself  as  em¬ 
phatically  antagonistic.  Upton  Sinclair,  in  his  praise 
pf  the  National  Student  Forum,  and  with  particular 
■eference  to  the  preamble,  says: 

“As  an  illustration  of  the  activities  of  this 
group  I  mention  that  the  Harvard  Liberal  Club, 


5 


during  the  year  1922,  had  sixty  luncheon  speak¬ 
ers  in  five  months,  including  such  radicals  as 
Clark  Getts,  Lincoln  Steffens,  Florence  Kelly, 
(Wischnewetsky),  Raymond  Robbins,  Frank 
Tannenbaum,  Roger  Baldwin,  Percy  MacKaye, 
Clare  Sheridan,  Norman  Angel  and  W.  E.  B. 
Du  Bois.”  | 

To  say  that  anyone  that  Upton  Sinclair  acknowl¬ 
edges  as  radical  is  radical  is  like  saying  that  saffron 
is  yellow.  Sinclair,  Scott  Nearing  and  H.  W.  L. 
Dana  are  of  those  who  do  not  recognize  lukewarm 
Socialists.  Therefore,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell 
on  the  radicals  who  spoke  before  the  Harvard 
Liberal  Club,  the  parent  organization  from  which 
the  National  Student  Forum  sprung.  Mr.  Sinclair 
says  the  radicals  were  “properly  balanced  by  a 
group  of  respectable  people  including  Admiral  Sims, 
Hamilton  Holt,  President  Eliot  and  a  nephew  of| 
Lord  Brice.” 

Let’s  take  a  look  at  the  “respectable”  people  who 
balanced  the  radicals. 

“Respectable”  Speakers  Pink. 

Admiral  Sims,  the  first  “respectable”  mentioned  by 
Upton  Sinclair,  stated  September  loth  that  he  had 
never  spoken  for  the  National  Student  Forum.  If 
he  spoke  at  all  at  Harvard  during  1922  his  having 
done  so  should  not  have  been  used  “as  an  illustra-j 
tion  of  the  activities  of  this  group” — the  National 
Student  Forum. 

Hamilton  Holt,  the  second  “respectable”  on  thq 
list,  is  an  Internationalist  and  a  Pacifist,  as  his  own 
activities  show.  He  is  director  of  the  Church  Peace 
Union  and  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Friends  of  Russian  Freedom;  of  the 
International  Conciliation  Society;  of  the  Italy- 
America  Society,  the  Netherlands-America  Founda¬ 
tion,  and  the  Poland-America  Society.  He  is  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  American-Scandinavian  Foundation,  and 
his  name  as  chairman,  headed  the  list  of  officers  of 
the  American  Neutral  Conference  Committee,  which 
was  organized  under  the  direction  of  Rebecca  Shelley, 
who  got  her  ideas  direct  from  Carl  Lindhagen,  the 
Socialist  mayor  of  Stockholm.  As  a  member  of 
various  committees  working  against  preparedness, 
the  name  of  Hamilton  Holt  is  bracketed  with  that 
of  such  well  known  enemies  of  our  present  govern¬ 
ment  as  Oswald  Garrison  Villard,  the  millionaire 
Socialist  Morris  Hillquit,  born  in  Russia,  and  Lillian 
D.  Wald.  Considering  his  affiliations,  one  would 
hardly  think  of  Dr.  Holt  as  doing  anything  to  coun¬ 
teract  radicalism. 

President  (Emeritus)  Eliot  of  Harvard  was  born 
in  1834.  Age  has  privileges  no  one  can  question. 


6 


From  this  it  is  easy  to  see  that  no  great  weight 
was  thrown  into  the  other  side  of  the  scales  to 
“balance”  the  arguments  of  the  radicals.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  looks  as  if  those  who  are  out  to  upset 
the  belief  of  young  Americans  in  their  Government 
and  its  institutions  had  things  pretty  much  their  own 
way  in  their  talks  before  the  Harvard  Liberal  Club, 
which  is  a  constituent  and  very  active  part  of  the 
National  Student  Forum. 

Radical  From  Its  Inception. 

In  the  June  2,  1923,  issue  of  The  New  Student, 
John  Rothschild,  first  executive  secretary  of  the  Na¬ 
tional  Student  Forum,  tells  of  the  organization  of 
the  Intercollegiate  Liberal  League,  in  1921.  Mr. 
Rothschild  is  a  Harvard  graduate.  Reading  between 
the  lines,  one  could  easily  discern  that  the  Harvard 
Students  Liberal  Club  was  back  of  the  Intercol¬ 
legiate  Liberal  League,  which,  merging  with  the 
National  Student  Committee  for  Limitation  of 
Armaments  last  Spring,  formed  the  National  Student 
Forum.  Mr.  Rothschild  does  not  call  the  club  by  it 
name.  He  says: 

“Some  of  us — then  students  in  a  great  Eastern 
University — had  a  feeling  of  the  new  era  back  in 
1919.  There  were  those  among  us  who  felt 
themselves  filled  with  the  truth — who  thought 
they  understood  what  was  happening  in  the 
world,  and  how  events  would  shape  themselves. 

.  .  .  Others  knew  their  own  confusion,  but  were 
eager  to  find  an  orientation  to  what  they  felt,  that 
eventually  they  might  know  what  parts  to  play 
in  the  new  world.  Those  who  knew  burned  for 
action,  and  those  who  were  less  sure,  wanted 
enlightment.  So  the  group  had  two  functions: 
discussion  and  study,  PRIMARILY  FOR 
THOSE  WHO  DID  NOT  UNDERSTAND 
THE  RUSSIAN  REVOLUTION,  INDUS¬ 
TRIAL  DEMOCRACY,  and  in  general,  what 
were  thought  to  be  important  phenomena  of  the 
new  age;  and  for  those  who  sought  action—* 
missionary  work  in  the  student  body  at  large. 

After  paying  a  tribute  to  the  “honest  of  the  group,” 
Mr.  Rothschild  admits  that  “anxious  as  some  of  us 
were  to  rouse  the  social  sympathies  of  our  fellow 
students,  we  saw  that  the  way  to  establishing  intelli¬ 
gent  belief  lay  in  a  fair  presentation  of  fact.”  Then 
he  goes  on: 

“In  private  discussions  and  in  open  meetings 
we  welcomed  the  testimony  of  radicals  who 
gave  satisfaction  to  one  element  among  us,  and 
conservatives  who  reassured  the  others.  Facts 
strengthened  the  social  idealism  of  the  unsure, 
and  in  some  cases  focussed  it;  facts  modified 
and  matured  the  convictions  of  the  possessed.” 


7 


Knowing  the  patter  of  all  Intellectuals,  Liberalists, 
Socialists  and  Communists,  it  is  not  hard  to  reckon 
what  Mr.  Rothschild  would  consider  “facts.”  To 
Mr.  Rothschild  and  his  followers,  a  statement  is  a 
fact  only  when  it  bears  out  one  of  their  contentions. 
Of  Mr.  Rothschild’s  brand  of  “facts”  here  are  some 
illustrations: 

“The  Russians  won  their  point  through 
economic  justice  at  home,  propaganda  and  open 
diplomacy.  .  .  .  The  cause  for  which  the  workers 
are  contending  in  Russia  will  triumph.  .  .  .  be¬ 
cause  they  have  built  a  higher  form  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  than  that  which  exists  anywhere  else  in 
the  world.”— SCOTT  NEARING. 

“A  great  many  of  these  people  (Americans) 
are  incurably  conservative  and  by  the  passion 
of  their  biased  convictions  dominate  the  masses 
they  lead.  Their  notions  about  100  per  cent 
Americanism,  about  Christianity,  about  educa¬ 
tion  and  about  international  affairs  are  as  nar¬ 
row  and  as  dangerous  as  the  Prussianism  they 
pretend  to  have  destroyed.” — PIET  ROEST. 

“Storm  and  Stress.  What  is  born  in  the 
depths  of  your  adoring,  loving  soul,  which  you 
make  so  humble,  so  trembling  with  thanks,  can 
never  be  unclean,  can  never  be  ignoble.” 

—JOACHIM  FRIEDRICH. 

“Capitalism  can  no  longer  make  a  tolerable 
world,  or  preserve  for  us  the  heritage  of  civiliza¬ 
tion.  International  Socialism  can  do  these 
things.  .  .  .  Those  who  oppose  the  advent  of 
Socialism  take  upon  themselves  a  very  grave 
responsibility.”— BERTRAND  RUSSELL. 

Piet  Roest  of  Holland  and  Joachim  Friedrich  of 
Germany  are  two  of  the  six  foreign  students  brought 
to  America  by  Messrs.  Rothschild  and  Pratt.  Scott 
Nearing  and  Bertrand  Russell  are  Socialist  writers 
and  lecturers  in  high  favor  with  all  the  Intellectuals. 

In  his  article  in  the  New  Student,  which  he  called 
“Retrospect,  Forecast  and  a  Personal  Confession,” 
Mr.  Rothschild  says  that  in  the  Spring  of  1921: 

“We  called  the  Intercollegiate  conference  of 
students  who,  like  ourselves,  were  puzzling 
about  the  world,  and  the  result  was  an  articula¬ 
tion  of  the  movement  in  an  organization.  We 
called  ourselves  the  Intercollegiate  Liberal 
League.” 

And  in  the  spring  of  1922  the  Intercollegiate 
Liberal  League  lost  its  identity  by  merging  with  the 
National  Student  Committee  for  the  Limitation  of 
Armaments  to  form  the  National  Student  Forum. 
The  policy  of  the  new  organization  is  the  combined 
policy  of  the  two  older  organizations,  to  which  has 
been  added  support  of  the  German  Youth  Movement. 


8 


Noted  Radicals  Speak  at  Organization. 

The  first  issue  of  the  New  Student,  the  official 
organ  of  the  National  Student  Forum,  carries  on  its 
first  page  three  titles  only.  The  Intercollegiate 
Liberal  League;  Academic  Freedom,  by  Professor 
Edwin  R.  Seligman;  Report  of  the  National  Student 
Committee  for  the  Limitation  of  Armaments.  In  the 
first  artcile,  which  is  an  account  of  the  organization 
of  the  Intercollegiate  Liberal  League,  mention  is 
made  of  “persons  of  eminence”  who  “lent  them¬ 
selves  to  the  occasion.”  The  speakers  mentioned 
are:  Charles  W.  Eliot,  Dean  L.  B.  R.  Briggs,  Walter 
Lippman,  U.  S.  Senator  Ladd,  Andrew  Furuseth, 
Henry  B.  Mussey,  Francis  Neilson,  Charlotte  Per¬ 
kins  Gilman,  Mrs.  Arthur  G.  Rotch,  John  Haynes 
Holmes,  H.  N.  McCracken. 

Let’s  take  a  look  at  some  of  these  “persons  of 
eminence.”  Respect  for  the  aged  lays  the  finger  of 
silence  on  our  lips.  We  pass  over  the  first  speaker 
mentioned. 

The  second,  Le  Baron  Russell  Briggs,  A.  B.,  LL. 
D.,  etc.,  was  president  of  Radcliffe  College,  which  has 
its  Student  International  Assembly  and  its  RadclifTe 
Liberal  Club. 

Walter  Lippman,  formerly  an  editor,  now  a  con¬ 
tributor  to  The  New  Republic,  is  the  author  of 
numerous  radical  and  Socialistic  articles. 

U.  S.  Senator  Edwin  F.  Ladd,  Russian  sympathiser, 
upholder  of  Soviet  Russia;  visitor  to  Russia  in  1923. 
He  is  a  Harvard  graduate. 

Andrew  Furuseth  is  a  Socialist  from  Norway.  He 
is  now  a  resident  of  San  Francisco;  official  secretary 
of  the  Sailors’  Union  of  the  Pacific  and  president  of 
the  International  Seamen’s  Union  of  America.  His 
education  was  had  in  the  common  schools. 

Henry  Mussey  is  an  acknowledged  Socialist;  left 
Columbia  University  because  of  his  radicalism;  now 
connected  with  the  New  School  for  Social  Research 
in  New  York.  In  Washington  he  was  correspondent 
for  the  American  Civil  Libterties  Union. 

Francis  Nielson  is  an  Englishman  by  birth,  mem¬ 
ber  of  British  Parliament  in  1910-15.  He  is  a  founder 
of  the  Brotherhood  Movement  in  England.  With 
John  Haynes  Holmes  he  is  editor  of  Unity,  “a 
journal  of  the  religion  of  democracy,”  and  with 
Albert  Jay  Nock,  Suzanne  La  Follette,  and  others, 
he  is  editor  of  The  Freeman. 

Charlotte  Perkins  Gilman  is  a  Socialist  and  the 
author  of  several  Communistic  songs  as  well  as  a 
lot  of  Socialistic  articles  and  books. 

Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes  in  “The  Revolt  of 
Youth,”  a  pamphlet,  Series  1923-24,  says: 

“We  old  folks  have  long  expected  and  exacted 
obedience  from  our  children.  Nothing  could  be 


9 


more  intolerable  or  unlovely.  In  no  relationship 
between  human  beings  has  obedience  any  proper 
place.  To  the  person  who  gives,  it  is  a  humilia¬ 
tion;  to  the  person  who  receives,  it  is  an  injury. 
Obedience  means  subjection — the  subjection  of 
the  weaker  to  the  stronger;  and  this  is  as 
abominable  an  attitude  in  the  home  as  in  the 
state.  Hence  democracy,  which  ends  sovereignty 
of  every  kind!” 

“What  stands  out  transcendent,  it  seems  to  me, 
is  the  fact  that  we  have  here  a  new  Declaration 
of  Independence— a  declaration  of  independence 
for  the  young.  W^e  have  freed  the  slaves;  we 
freed,  or  are  freeing,  women;  now  youth  arises 
and  asks  its  turn — nay,  asserts  and  takes  its 
turn!  Our  young  people  have  come  to  the  time 
when  they  propose  to  be  free  of  the  domination 
of  their  elders — free  to  follow  their  own  courses 
and  seek  their  own  goals.  .  .  .  To  my  way  of 
thinking  this  Declaration  of  Independence  is  as 
glorious  as  all  previous  declarations  of  the  same 
kind;  and  the  Youth  Movement,  which  embodies 
it,  not  a  peril  but  a  great  hope  to  humanity.” 

“From  the  very  beginning  of  life,  the  child 
must  be  protected  from  intrusion,  interference, 
warping  and  moulding  influences  of  every  de¬ 
scription.  He  must  be  left  to  be  himself,  trained 
and  educated  to  be  himself.  Not  obedience  and 
reverence,  but  courage,  self-reliance,  experiment, 
adventure,  rebellion,  must  be  the  spirit  of  his 
life.” 

Commending,  in  highest  terms  of  praise,  the  Youth 
Movement  of  Germany,  Dr.  Holmes  says,  on  page  16, 
of  the  pamphlet,  “Revolt  of  Youth”: 

“Our  purpose,  say  the  Wandervoegel,  is  ‘to 
form  our  own  life  in  sincerity  and  upon  our  own 
responsibility.’  With  this  idea  in  mind,  they  re¬ 
fuse  to  recognize  adult  leadership  or  counsel. 
They  will  not  have  older  people  among  them. 
In  the  beginning,  when  they  went  off  on  their 
hikes,  they  took  chaperones  along.  Later  they 
refused  to  accept  supervision  of  this  kind.  Now 
they  organize  always  in  pairs,  a  boy  to  every 
girl,  a  girl  to  every  boy,  tramp  off  to  their 
Herberger,  or  rest  huts,  hold  their  festive  cere¬ 
monies  and  dances,  spend  often  the  night,  sleep¬ 
ing  in  the  hut  or  under  the  trees,  and  always 
without  adult  control  .  .  .” 

Served  Prison  Term. 

Of  the  speakers  who  have  appeared  before  the 
National  Student  Forum,  or  some  one  of  its  con- 
stitutent  organizations,  within  the  past  year,  men¬ 
tion  might  be  made  of  a  few  of  them,  with  a  glance 
at  their  records. 


10 


which  amounts  to  conclusive  proof,  is  found  in  a 
telegram  dated  March  4,  1918,  and  signed  by  him 
and  Louise  Bryant.  The  telegram  was  addressed 
to  Lenin  and  Trotsky,  Smolny  Institute,  Petrograd, 
and  read: 

“Important  you  designate  unofficial  represen¬ 
tative  here  who  can  survey  situation,  weigh 
facts  and  cable  conclusions  you  might  accept 
and  act  upon.  Will  undertake  secure  means  of 
communication  between  such  man  and  yourself.” 

Hammers  United  States  Supreme  Court. 

Florence  Kelley  (Wischnewetzky),  like  Steffens 
and  Getts,  a  speaker  for  the  Harvard  Liberal  Club, 
has  been  a  radical  all  the  sixty-four  years  of  her  life, 
it  seems.  She  has  small  use  for  any  of  the  depart¬ 
ments  of  the  United  States  Government,  but  particu¬ 
larly  she  hammers  the  Supreme  Court.  She  hammers 
it  in  season  and  out  of  season.  Wherever  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  the  name  of  “Liber¬ 
alism,”  there  may  be  found  Florence  Kelley  (Wisch¬ 
newetzky),  abusing  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court. 

Clark  Getts,  luncheon  speaker  for  the  Harvard 
Liberal  Club,  served  a  term  in  Leavenworth  prison 
because  of  his  war  activities.  After  his  release  he 
was  associated  with  the  Federated  Press,  which  sup¬ 
plies  news  for  all  Communist  publications. 

Lincoln  Steffens,  member  of  the  Amnesty  League, 
picked  up  Socialistic  ideas  when  he  was  a  student  in 
Germany  (1889-92).  He  was  a  member  of  the  Bul¬ 
litt  mission  to  Russia,  and,  while  his  own  country 
was  at  war,  and  needed  the  help  of  every  man, 
woman  and  child  under  the  protection  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  the  United  States,  Lincoln  Steffens  was 
working  with  Lenin  and  Trotsky.  Evidence  of  this, 

Mrs.  Kelley  was  born  “Kelley.”  She  got  her  right 
to  be  called  Mrs.  when  she  married  one  Wischnew¬ 
etzky.  She  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  socialised  gov¬ 
ernment.  As  long  ago  as  1897  she  was  the  editor 
of  ARCHIV  FUR  SOCIALEGESTZEBUNG.  She 
was  one  of  the  much  applauded  speakers  at  the  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  Trade  Union  Educational  League  in  Wash¬ 
ington  in  May,  1923,  and  at  the  June  conference  of 
the  League  for  Industrial  Democracy  at  Camp 
Tamiment,  where  she  declared  that  the  Judges  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court  worked  overtime 
to  upset  all  legislation  that  was  for  the  benefit  of 
the  children,  the  women  and  the  general  workers  of 
the  country.  She  had  a  good  word  for  Judge  Bran¬ 
ded,  but  said  that  he,  working  alone,  could  do 
nothing  to  stop  the  evil  acts  of  the  capitalists  as¬ 
sociated  with  him  on  the  supreme  bench. 

Mrs.  Kelley  (Wischnewetzky)  was  the  first  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  Intercollegiate  Socialist  Society.  She  is 


11 


now  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  organization 
under  its  new  name — League  for  Industrial  Democ- 
racy_the  other  three  vice-presidents  being  the  late 
Charles  P.  Steinmetz,  Evans  Clark  and  Arthur 
Gleason. 

Florence  Kelley  (Wischnewetzky)  was  part  of  the 
Conference  for  Democracy  which  held  forth  during 
the  war,  and  advocated: 

“The  American  people,  joining  hands  with  the 
new  democracy  of  Russia,  must  lay  the  basis  for 
permanent  world  peace  by  establishing  indus¬ 
trial  democracy.” 

All  the  speeches  at  this  conference,  where  Mrs. 
Kelley  (Wischnewetzky)  was  chairman,  were  in  op¬ 
position  to  the  policy  of  the  United  States. 

Prominent  as  Anti-American  and  Pro-Russian. 

Raymond  Robins,  another  much  lauded  speaker  of 
the  most  active  constituent  member  of  the  National 
Student  Forum,  is  believed  to  have  used  his  post  as 
commander  of  the  American  Red  Cross  in  Russia 
(1917-18)  to  arouse  sympathy  for  Soviet  Russia. 
Colonel  Robins  has  spoken  many  times  in  this  coun¬ 
try  of  Russia  and  Russian  affairs,  and  always  with  a 
favorable  slant  toward  Soviet  Russia.  He  calls  him¬ 
self  a  Social  Economist.  He  has  done  a  lot  of  social 
settlement  work,  which,  according  to  Amy  Woods, 
secretary  of  the  United  States  Section  of  the 
Women’s  International  League  for  Peace  and  Free¬ 
dom,  is  calculated  to  make  internationalists  of  nation¬ 
alists.  He  is  an  advocate  of  organized  labor  and  of 
land  value  taxation,  and  is  a  “progressive”  Republican 
in  politics.  His  speeches  have  a  decidedly  socialistic 
trend.  His  book,  “Raymond  Robins’  Own  Story,” 
having  to  do  with  what  he  would  have  the  public 
believe  were  his  experiences  and  impressions  while 
he  was  in  Russia  with  the  American  Red  Cross,  is 
heartily  recommended  by  the  Communist  press. 

Raymond  Robins  first  came  into  prominence  as 
the  husband  of  Mrs.  Raymond  Robins  (Margaret 
Drier)  who,  May  20,  1907,  “led  thirty-seven  hundred 
cheering,  boisterous,  Socialist,  anarchist,  trade- 
unionist  members  of  liberal  societies  and  sympathi¬ 
sers  through  down  town  and  west  side  streets  in  a 
demonstration”  in  Chicago. 

Frank  Tannenbaum  is  one  of  the  accepted  “mouth¬ 
pieces”  for  amnesty  and  pacifism.  His  well  camou¬ 
flaged  Communistic  articles  appear  intermittently  in 
Century,  which  Pacifists  and  Liberalists  now  claim 
as  being  “with  them.”  He  is  one  of  the  speakers 
mentioned  by  Upton  Sinclair  in  connection  with  the 
National  Student  Forum. 

Director  of  American  Civil  Liberties  Union. 

Roger  Baldwin,  director  of  the  American  Civil 
Liberties  Union,  which  organization  is  dubbed  by 

12 


government  officials  as  subversive  to  the  best  inter¬ 
ests  of  the  Government,  has  not  only  spoken  for 
organizations  that  are  members  of  the  National  Stu¬ 
dent  Forum,  but  is  a  man  very  much  praised  by  Mr. 
George  D.  Pratt,  Jr.,  now  active  secretary  of  the 
National  Student  Forum.  Mr.  Pratt  says,  in  a  letter 
to  me,  copies  of  which  he  liberally  distributed: 

“Mr.  Rothschild  did  indeed  declare  himself  a 
friend  of  Roger  Baldwin  when  you  tauntingly 
spoke  of  the  latter  as  a  draft-dodger.  He  (Bald¬ 
win)  was  a  conscientious  objector  in  the  most 
noble  and  best  recognized  meaning  of  that  term, 
and  served  his  sentence  in  prison  bravely.” 

Mr.  Baldwin  was  an  officer  of  the  American  Union 
against  Militarism  during  the  war.  He  was  also  an 
organizer  of  the  People’s  Council,  in  which  capacity 
he  wrote  to  the  Communist,  Louis  P.  Lochner:  “We 
want  also  to  look  like  patriots  in  everything  we  do.” 
This  is  the  man  Mr.  Pratt  calls  a  “conscientious  ob¬ 
jector  in  the  most  noble  and  best  recognized  mean¬ 
ing  of  that  term.” 

W.  E.  B.  Du  Bois  is  a  mulatto  member  of  the  In¬ 
telligentzia  who  stands  for  complete  social  equality 
of  white  and  black.  He  is  clever,  and  has  made  more 
than  a  local  name  for  himself  by  his  writing,  much 
of  which  appears  in  the  LIBERATOR  (a  Communist 
monthly).  The  policies  he  advocates  are  directly  in 
line  with  the  American  Civil  Liberties  Union,  the 
League  for  Industrial  Democracy,  the  Women’s  In¬ 
ternational  League  for  Peace  and  Freedom  and  the 
Communists  of  Moscow.  Du  Bois  has  spoken  for 
units  of  the  National  Student  Forum. 

Clare  Sheridan^  another  speaker  for  the  Harvard 
Liberal  Club,  a  unit  of  the  National  Student  Forum, 
is  British,  a  sculptor  and  writer.  Norman  Angell  is 
also  British,  with  an  American  wife.  He  is  a  Pacifist. 
Percy  MacKaye,  the  poet,  comes  from  good  old  New 
England  stock,  but  has  become  a  Socialist  mal¬ 
content. 

Paul  Jones,  at  one  time  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Utah, 
is  the  active  head  of  the  Fellowship  of  Reconcilia¬ 
tion,  and  a  contributor  to  the  American  Civil  Liber¬ 
ties  Union.  Mr.  Jones  was  one  of  the  speakers  at 
the  Camp  Tamiment  Conference  of  the  League  for 
Industrial  Democracy  last  June,  when  he  said: 

“Clear  thinking  on  the  subject  of  war  is  needed 
before  ‘next  steps’  can  be  considered.  The  first 
thing  is  to  dismiss  all  ideas  of  glory,  nobility, 
heroism  or  patriotism  in  regard  to  war.” 

Frederick  J.  Libby,  Pacifist,  and  head  of  the  Na¬ 
tional  Council  for  Prevention  of  War,  and  Rabbi 
Stephen  S.  Wise,  well  known  for  his  pacifism,  are 
both  advisers  to  the  National  Student  Forum.  Rabbi 
Wise  was  born  in  Budapest.  He  came  to  New  York 
when  he  was  a  boy,  and  studied  at  the  College  of  the 


13 


City  of  New  York.  He  is  founder  and  director  of 
the  Eastern  Council  of  Liberal  Rabbis,  and  founder 
of  the  Zionist  organization  in  America.  His  daughter, 
Justine  Wise,  is  on  the  executive  committee  of  the 
National  Student  Forum. 

Mary  Church  Terrell,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  is 
the  colored  member  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Women’s  International  League  for  Peace  and 
Freedom.  Like  DuBois,  she  is  advocate  of  complete 
social  as  well  as  political  equality  for  the  negroes. 
She  is  a  contributor  to  the  New  Student. 

Harry  F.  Ward,  of  the  American  Civil  Liberties 
Union  and  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches,  is  one 
of  the  literary  advisers  to  the  National  Student 
Forum  through  the  New  Student.  In  the  last  issue 
of  the  second  volume,  June  2,  1923,  Dr.  Ward  most 
urgently  advises  all  students  to  read  “The  Decay  of 
Capitalist  Civilization,”  by  Sidney  and  Beatrice 
Webb.  In  praise  of  the  authors,  he  says  that  the 
Webbs  are  the  “original  labor-researchers  of  Eng¬ 
land  .  .  .  mainly  responsible  for  the  educational  policy 
and  propaganda  of  the  Fabian  Society.”  He  recom¬ 
mends  all  the  many  books  of  the  Webbs,  mention¬ 
ing  particularly  “The  Decay  of  Capitalist  Civiliza¬ 
tion,”  which  he  outlines,  and  “A  Constitution  for  the 
Socialist  Commonwealth  of  Great  Britain.” 

Other  books  recommended  by  Harry  F.  Ward  for 
the  students  of  the  National  Student  Forum  are 
“Labor  and  the  New  Social  Order;”  “Incentives  in 
the  New  Industrial  Order;”  “Liberalism  and  Indus¬ 
try;”  “Organizing  for  Work;”  Towney’s  “Acquisi¬ 
tive  Society,”  and  Veblen’s  “Theory  of  Modern  Busi¬ 
ness  Enterprise.” 

Dr.  Ward  is  a  member  of  the  executive  board  of 
the  National  Student  Forum,  and  is  himself  the 
author  of  several  books  and  pamphlets.  It  is  signifi¬ 
cant  that  The  New  Student,  in  announcing  his  mem¬ 
bership  on  the  board,  thought  it  worth  while  men¬ 
tioning  that  he  was  the  author  of  “The  New  Social 
Order.” 

Another  member  of  the  executive  board  is  Dr. 
Joseph  Jv.  Hart  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  as¬ 
sociate  editor  of  SURVEY  and  directors  of  the  Phila¬ 
delphia  School  of  Social  Science.  He  is  a  lecturer 
also  for  the  New  School  for  Social  Science  in  New 
York,  boosted  by  Upton  Sinclair. 

William  Palmer  Ladd,  an  Episcopal  clergyman 
and  chairman  of  the  Social  service  Commission  for 
the  Federation  of  Churches;  Dr.  William  F.  Ogburn, 
sociologist,  author  of  “Social  Change;”  Beatrice 
Lowndes  Earle,  “who  served  as  secretary  of  the  New 
School  for  Social  Research,”  (New  Student);  Sylvia 
Kopald,  who  is  “lecturing  on  labor  problems  in  a 
sociology  seminary,”  (New  Student),  and  Harold 
Evans,  “a  Philadelphia  Quaker  lawyer,  member  of 


National  Young  Democracy  Committee  and  for  some 
time  in  the  Friends’  child-feeding  work  in  Germany” 
(New  Student)  are  more  of  the  graduate  members 
of  the  executive  board  of  the  National  Student 
Forum.  All  of  them  are  Socialists  or  socialistic. 

Eleanor  M.  Phelps,  as  associate  secretary  of  the 
National  Student  Forum  in  1922,  gave,  in  the  Octo¬ 
ber  7  number,  a  list  of  “some  of  those  who  have  ex¬ 
pressed  their  willingness  to  assist  the  students.”  This 
is  the  list  given  by  Miss  Phelps: 

“In  the  Dicussion  of  American  Foreign  Rela¬ 
tions,  European  Rehabilitation,  etc.: 

“Dr.  B.  M.  Anderson,  of  the  Chase  National 
Bank  and  the  Institute  of  Politics;  Dr.  James  G. 
McDonald,  of  the  Foreign  Policy  Association; 
Dr.  Scott  Nearing,  Mr.  Oswald  G.  Villard,  of 
The  Nation.”  (One  conservative;  three  radicals.) 

“In  the  discussion  of  the  coal  situation: 

“From  the  viewpoint  of  the  operators — J.  D.  A. 
Morrow,  of  the  National  Coal  Association; 

“From  the  viewpoint  of  labor — Mr.  Robert 
Bruere,  of  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  Research; 
Mr.  Christ  J.  Golden,  member  of  the  Nationali¬ 
zation  Committee  of  the  United  Mine  Workers 
of  America.”  (2  Rad.  No  Conservative). 

“From  the  viewpoint  of  the  technician — Mr. 
Hugh  Archibald,  author  of  ‘The  Four  Hour  Day 
In  Coal,’  and  Mr.  H.  Foster  Bain,  director  of 
the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines; 

“From  the  viewpoint  of  the  journalist — C.  H. 
Lesher,  Editor  Coal  Age.” 

Search  the  New  Student  issue  by  issue  and  you 
will  not  find  one  advocate  for  patriotism,  for  our 
government  and  institutions  as  they  now  stand,  who 
is  upheld  by  the  National  Student  Forum. 

“Class  Struggle”  and  “I.  W.  W.” 

What  you  will  find  upheld  is  the  Youth  Movement, 
which  started  in  Germany;  industrial  democracy; 
amnesty  for  “political”  prisoners,  and  such  arguments 
as  these: 

“Maybe  the  I.  W.  W.’s  have  a  real  cause.” 

“Maybe  it  could  be  demonstrated  that  the  Ger¬ 
mans  are  not  a  cowardly  race.” 

“Maybe  our  professor  fails  to  see  the  class  strug¬ 
gle  because  he  is  temperamentally  incapable  of  un¬ 
derstanding  any  struggle.” 

Nothing  criminal  in  any  of  these  “maybe’s”  if  they 
were  offset  by  arguments  showing  the  other  side  of 
the  question — but  they’re  not.  Instead,  you  will  find 
such  statements  as  this: 

“WE  WOULD  RATHER  SCRAP  THE 
CONSTITUTION  AND  ITS  BILL  OF 
RIGHTS  THAN  DISTORT  OUR  MIND 
WITH  POPULAR  ECONOMIC  AND  SO¬ 
CIOLOGIC  SUPERSTITIONS.” 

15 


The  “superstitions”  so  much  feared  are  belief  in 
the  Government,  the  Bible  and  its  teachings,  and  the 
support  of  recognized  moral  and  social  standards  for 
right  living  and  right  doing. 

The  issue  of  March  3,  1923,  was  a  fat  “Special  Sup¬ 
plement  Published  in  Germany,”  with  only  a  leaflet 
for  the  American  edition.  John  Rothschild  had  the 
lead  story,  “Why  Young  america  Looks  to  Young 
europe.”  “The  Sense  of  Community  in  the  German 
Youth  Movement”  is  an  expurgated  account  of  the 
Weltjugeldliga,  the  World  League  of  Youth.  Much 
stress  is  laid  upon  the  community  life  of  the  young 
wanderers.  Says  the  writer  of  this  article,  Adolph 
Reichwein : 

“Whether  they  sang,  played,  danced,  did  gym¬ 
nastics  or  wandered,  they  did  everything  in  com¬ 
mon.  .  .  .  They  became  reunited  with  nature  and 
experienced  a  new  feeling  toward  the  body  .  .  .” 

.  .  .  “The  movement  in  its  first  instinctive  revolt 
was  of  a  purely  romantic  character.  All  that 
was  artificial,  conventional  and  complicated,  they 
opposed  with  the  freshness  and  natural  bloom 
of  youth  and  good  fellowship.  .  .  .  Then  they 
began  the  struggle  with  the  capitalistic  order 
of  things.” 

After  the  War  the  Youth  Movement  split  into  two 
wings,  says  Reichwein: 

“The  left  Radicals,  the  Communists,  and  the 
right  Radicals,  the  Voelkische  (People’s  Party), 
who,  in  the  ensuing  fights,  often  opposed  one 
another  weapon  in  hand,  although  they  were 
united  in  their  resolution  to  sever  all  ties  with 
the  past.” 

Whole  Movement  Socialist. 

Reichwein,  in  his  New  Student  article,  explains 
that  the  whole  movement  is  Socialist.  The  political 
grouping  was,  he  says,  according  to  the  tempera¬ 
ment  of  the  individual: 

“Those  acting  on  instinctive  feeling  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  People’s  Party,  while  the  more  logi¬ 
cally  inclined  went  over  to  the  international- 
socialistic  party.”  (Literally,  the  Communist 
Party.) 

However  much  others  may  seek  to  obscure  the 
aims  of  the  Youth  Movement,  the  German  writers 
in  the  German  Supplement  of  the  New  Student  make 
its  purpose  clear  enough. 

“Youth  has,  as  a  movement,  one  thing  above  all 
others  to  do  now,”  says  Hans  Albert  Forster  of 
Leipzig, — “to  turn  their  knowledge  into  action,  that  all 
work  in  the  service  of  the  small  . and  smallest  things 
may  merge  and  become  with  the  great  onward  route 
of  the  organic  world  revolution” 


16 


Hans  Schlichting  of  Hamburg  asks:  “What  does 
the  Youth  Movement  mean  to  us  young  Proletar¬ 
ians?”  and  answers  himself  by  saying  that  it  means: 

“Our  support  of  the  class  combats  of  the 
Labor  Party,  our  faith  in  the  higher  develop¬ 
ment  of  man,  and  our  refusal  to  accept  the  in¬ 
tellectual  conception  of  history  of  the  bour¬ 
geoisie.  .  .  .  Our  mental  attitude  toward  our  time 
leaves  us  no  alternative.  .  .  .  than  to  assist  in  the 
destruction  of  the  capitalistic  spirit  as  hostile 
to  the  personal  and  economic  world.” 

Erna  Behne  of  Hamburg  told  “Why  We  Wander.” 
She  puts  it  delicately: 

“Something  came  over  us  that  was  stronger 
than  every-day  custom — we  could  not  breathe 
within  the  high  walls — some  unknown  force  im¬ 
pelled  us  to  seek  for  real  living  life  in  nature. 

.  .  .  We  went  in  sandals,  bareheaded,  and  in  loose 
clothes  that  gave  us  a  triumphant  bodily  feeling 
of  being  one  with  the  air  and  sun,  and  that 
strengthened  and  tanned  our  bodies.” 

Christians  No  Longer. 

Walter  Pahl  of  Leipzig,  in  his  article  entitled:  “The 
Religious  Movement  in  the  German  Youth  Move¬ 
ment,”  says: 

“We  must  regain  the  body  if  we  serve  God 
without  the  severe  beauty  of  our  blood.  We 
must  regain  the  body  through  our  yearning,  we 
must  reconstruct  matter  if  we  wish  to  find  God. 
.  .  .  We  are  Christians  no  longer!  We  wish  for 
man  the  entirely — and  not  a  part  of  him.  And 
so  we  released  the  body,  and  danced  the  dance 
of  the  earth  and  the  stars  within  us.  The  struggle 
towards  this  release  marks  the  stage  in  which 
the  German  Youth  is  at  present.  But  we  know 
we  are  on  the  right  road — and  we  see  the  torch 
is  burning  to  light  us  beyond  the  path  of  priests 
and  churches!” 

Siegfried  Kawerau  of  Charlottenburg,  in  his  New 
Student  article  called  “Youth  and  Eros,”  exclaims 
that: 

“Youth  and  Eros  are  two  different  things! 
Eros  is  much  vaster.  Eros  is  the  god  of  the 
unity  of  body  and  soul,  the  god  of  overwelling 
joy.  .  .  .  Eros  is  the  ever-streaming,  flowing, 
trickling  force  which  moves  and  inspires  our 
whole  soul  and  body.  .  .  .  sexuality  is  restrained 
need  of  the  body,  concentrated  and  tormenting.” 

Paul  Lambrecht  sums  up  the  Youth  Movement  in 
his  article  under  the  head:  “The  Common  Front  of 
Youth,”  in  which  he  appeals  to  the  “young  people  of 
the  earth”  after  this  fashion: 

“Comrades!  Do  you  not  feel  the  pain  and 
profanity  of  life  everywhere?  Do  your  eyes  not 


17 


fill  with  tears,  your  hearts  with  wrath,  and  youi 
souls  overflow  with  desire  for  other  things?  Dc 
you  feel  all  this  when  you  listen  to  the  call  o: 
your  young  blood?  .  .  .  Then  you  will  know,  too 
that  help  only  comes  through  those  who  dare 
all  to  be  what  they  really  feel — to  those  who  at¬ 
tempt  no  compromise,  but  tear  the  miserable 
balance  sheet  of  their  elders  in  pieces,  and  ven¬ 
ture  to  live,  live,  LIVE!” 

Trickery  Has  to  Be  Used. 

Sponsors  for  the  German  Youth  Movement  ir 
America  have  to  be  more  restrained.  Mrs.  Rache 
Davis  DuBois,  of  the  Women’s  International  Leagu( 
for  Peace  and  Freedom,  contributor  to  the  Americar 
Civil  Liberties  Union,  is  head  of  the  Youth  Move¬ 
ment  as  sponsored  by  the  Women’s  Internationa 
League  for  Peace  and  Freedom  in  the  United  States 
Mrs.  DuBois  attended,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers 
at  the  Camp  Tamiment  Conference  of  the  League  foi 
Industrial  Democracy.  In  a  talk  with  Harry  Laidler 
she  said  that  her  work  was  “very  radical,”  but  she 
had  to  cover  it  up  “under  the  guise  of  education”  tc 
get  it  into  the  schools  and  colleges.  Her  work  ac¬ 
tually,  but  not  nominally,  is  a  part  of  the  Weltjugend- 
liga.  She  studied  the  Youth  Movement  in  Germany 
and  made  it  a  part  of  the  U.  S.  Section  of  the 
Women’s  International  League  for  Peace  and  Free¬ 
dom.  She  is  now  organizing  the  young  people  ir 
Pennsylvania. 

Just  What  It  Means. 

In  an  article  in  the  New  Student,  translated  frorr 
the  German  of  Werner  Jantschge  by  Mildred  Wert¬ 
heimer,  the  aims  of  the  Weltjugendliga  are  stated 
broadly  and  vaguely,  as  a  “wish  to  aid  in  permeating 
the  aroused  consciousness  of  the  time  with  a  spiri' 
strong  enough  and  ideal  enough  to  overcome  the  cus¬ 
tomary  reliance  on  force  and  self-interest  in  man’s 
dealings  with  his  fellows.” 

The  principles  for  which  the  Weltjugendliga  stanc 
ready  to  fight,  according  to  Herr  Jantschge,  in  th< 
New  Student,  are: 

“Against  race  hatred,  profit  of  men  in  men 
the  slaughter  of  human  beings  and  the  destruc 
tion  of  valuable  goods; 

“Against  the  glorification  of  war,  educatioi 
for  the  use  of  force  and  the  creation  of  a  thirs 
for  blood; 

“Against  the  falsification  of  religion,  philoso 
phy,  love  of  home  and  country,  in  order  to  un 
chain  and  carry  out  mass  slaughter; 

“Against  the  control  and  hiring  of  convictions 
above  all  in  the  press,  and  the  use  of  lies  an< 
conspiracy  in  creating  opinion; 


18 


“For  the  friendly  intercourse  of  peoples  and 
a  new  ordering  of  society  through  cooperative 
industry,  peaceful  work,  and  realization  of  the 
sacredness  of  human  life; 

“For  the  honoring  of  peace,  justice  and  human 
excellence. 

“For  freedom  of  opinion  and  belief,  and  the 
subordination  of  selfish  aims  in  comradeship; 
for  independence  of  public  opinion,  for  truth  and 
candor  between  peoples,  societies  and  in¬ 
dividuals. 

“For  a  native  culture  springing  from  the  peo¬ 
ple  themselves.” 

All  these  “againsts”  ;and  “fors”  are  very  fine  and 
good,  if  they  meant  what  they  say — and  no  more. 
Unfortunately,  these  principles  put  into  practice 
mean : 

Against  patriotism,  national  defense  and  pre¬ 
paredness;  against  all  military  training;  against  his¬ 
torical  facts  concerning  military  heroes,  great  bat¬ 
tles;  against  all  teaching  that  would  breed  love  of 
country,  reverence  for  church  and  religion;  against 
any  attempt  to  curb  anti-American  propaganda.  FOR 
internationalism,  pacifism,  socialism,  liberalism,  “free¬ 
dom  of  opinion  and  belief”  only  so  long  as  it  is  radi¬ 
cal  and  revolutionary. 

“Expression  of  Spirit.” 

In  the  New  Student  of  May  5,  1923,  an  editorial 
“explains”  the  Youth  Movement  in  this  country  and 
disclaims  any  connection  with  the  German  Youth 
Movement.  I  quote: 

“The  Youth  MoVement  is  spontaneous — a 
growth  out  of  the  youth  of  this  or  that  country. 
It  has  no  creed,  no  organization.  It  is  a  demon- 
x  stration  of  a  large  number  of  young  people 
spontaneously  in  motion.  The  living,  force  of 
the  Youth  Movement  is  an  attitude,  a  spirit.  .  .  . 
Therefore  the  German  edition  of  the  New  Stu¬ 
dent  (March  3,  1923)  can  be  of  no  use  to  the 
young  people  of  America  except  as  a  national 
expression  of  a  spirit  which  is  in  all  of  us.” 

However  “spontaneous”  the  Youth  Movement  may 
be,  this  “explanation”  was  anything  else.  It  was 
brought  out  by  a  pamphlet  by  Mr.  Ralph  M.  Easley, 
foreword  by  Mr.  Conde  B.  Pallen,  showing  up  the 
Youth  Movement  as  it  is.  Read  the  apology  of  the 
New  Student  for  the  “explanation”  of  the  Youth 
Movement: 

“It  would  harclly  be  necessary  to  explain  a 
thing  of  this  sort  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  a 
couple  of  old  gentlemen  in  the  National  Civic 
Federation  went  to  the  trouble  of  publishing  a 
frenzied,  extremely  inaccurate  pamphlet  on  the 
Youth  Movement.  .  .  .  How  suspicious  and  self- 


19 


satisfied  these  old  fellows  are!  They  have  no 
faith  in  their  young  people,  and  they  spend  the 
last  years  of  their  lives  screaming  heresy  at  a 
world  in  which  spiritually  or  mentally  they  have 
long  since  ceased  to  exist.” 

A  preacher  from  the  Middle  West,  who  is  less  than 
a  year  younger  than  either  of  the  “couple  of  old  gen¬ 
tlemen  in  the  National  Civic  Federation,”  grew  witty' 
and  sarcastic  over  the  Easley  pamphlet,  and  unbur¬ 
dened  himself  of  his  wit  in  the  August  22  issue  of 
The  Nation,  to  this  effect: 

“The  Stars  and  Stripes  still  fly  over  the  Uni¬ 
versity.  Thanks  to  Mr.  Easley  and  his  Civic 
Federation.  The  National  Student  Forum,  in  its 
effort  to  promote  friendship  and  understanding 
between  European  and  American  students,  ar¬ 
ranged  a  tour  of  the  colleges  by  a  select  group 
of  students.  They  came  to  the  University.  A 
brilliant  young  Englishman.  A  Czech  filled  with 
enthusiasm.  .  .  .  And — tread  gently! — one  of  our 
late  enemy,  a  brilliant  lad  of  21  years  from  the 
University  of  Heidelberg.  They  came  to  tell  of 
the  spiritual  ideals  of  the  youth  of  Europe. 

“Thanks  to  Mr.  Easley,  their  (the  foreign  stu¬ 
dents’)  heresies  did  not  foul  the  pure  air  of  the 
University.  The  redoubtable  Easley  issued  an 
encyclical.  It  told  the  dreadful  truth.  He  waxed 
eloquent  over  the  Youth  Movement  in  Europe. 
He  saw  them  leading  in  a  concerted  protest 
against  war.  They  were  red  .  .  .  pacifists  .  .  . 
socialists.  .  .  .  anarchists.” 

Europe  “Scoured”  to  Find  Right  Men. 

Messrs.  Pratt  and  Rothschild  visited  twelve  coun¬ 
tries  and  made  an  intensive  study  of  the  youth  of 
six  countries  to  find  the  men  they  wanted  to  appear 
before  the  college  students  of  this  country.  They 
were  looking  for  men  who  could  put  across  the 
“ideals  of  the  Youth  Movement”  without  giving  the 
general  public  too  much  knowledge  of  what  this 
movement  really  means.  If  the  men  were  too  openly 
Communistic,  it  would  not  be  wise  for  them  to  come 
over.  Hear  the  sad  story  of  Broch. 

Theodore  Broch,  a  Communist  of  Norway,  was 
one  of  the  students  they  engaged.  Broch’s  activities 
for  the  Communist  party  of  Moscow  happened  to  be 
so  well  known  in  this  country  that  the  authorities, 
hearing  that  he  was  coming,  announced  that  he  would 
not  be  allowed  to  land.  Finding  it  impossible  to  get 
this  revolutionist  into  the  United  States,  Messrs. 
Pratt  and  Rothschild  issued  a  statement  to  the  effect 
that: 

“Theodore  Broch  of  Norway,  with  whom  we 
had  arranged  for  a  lecture  tour  in  this  country, 
has  decided  not  to  come,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 


20 


it  is  quite  evident  the  authorities  would  object  to 
his  landing.” 

But  before  it  was  known  to  these  young  men  that 
Broch  could  not  land  in  this  country,  Mr.  Roths¬ 
child  had  written  a  letter  saying  that  the  Norwegian 
was  a  member  of  the  Nascent  Anti-Militarist  Move¬ 
ment  and  the  Student  Christian  Movement  and  of  the 
Nationalistic  Cultural  Movement  of  Young  Peasants 
and  the  Movement  of  the  Communists.  In  the  same 
letter  Mr.  Rothschild  declares  that  he  and  Mr.  Pratt 
have  “no  prejudice  against  Communists.” 

In  his  letter  of  introduction  to  Broch,  Mr.  Roths¬ 
child,  laying  down  the  common  law  of  the  wool- 
pullers  in  the  United  States,  wrote: 

“We  are  concentrating  ourselves  entirely  on 
the  problem  of  arousing  students  wherever  we 
may  go,  and  our  method  may  often  undergo 
change.” 

In  other  words,  some  loyal  students  are  mentally 
more  alert  than  others,  not  so  easily  taken  in  by 
sentimental  twaddle.  The  same  program  won’t  fit 
everywhere. 

More  Camouflage. 

“We  plan  three  or  four  days’  stay  at  each 
place,”  Mr.  Rothschild  continues  his  instruc¬ 
tions.  “One  day  for  the  speeches,  the  rest  of 
the  time  for  social  opportunities.  We  shall  travel 
as  modestly  as  possible — because  we  believe  that 
the  greater  our  simplicity,  the  more  convincing 
will  be  the  mission.” 

Mr.  Rothschild  warns  Broch  against  letting  the 
public  know  that  he  is  a  Communist,  but  makes  this 
concession : 

“If  at  any  time  you  wish  openly  to  tell  people 
in  private  conversation  what  you  are  politically, 
and  why  you  are  what  you  are,  you  are  free  to 
do  so.  This  may  involve  some  risks,  but  there 
are  risks  we  can  not  ask  you  to  avoid.” 

Quite  clearly,  the  “risks”  to  which  Mr.  Rothschild 
so  delicately  refers  are  risks  to  the  reputation  of  the 
National  Student  Forum.  It  is  not  at  all  Mr.  Roths¬ 
child’s  intention,  and  it  is  very  far  from  Mr.  Pratt’s 
present  wish,  to  have  the  National  Student  Forum 
looked  upon  by  the  general  public,  or  even  by  the 
colleges  in  general,  as  a  Communistic  organization, 
or  a  disloyal  institution.  Whether  they  would  admit 
it  or  not,  “We  want  also  to  look  like  patriots  in 
everything  we  do,”  is  their  slogan  now,  just  as  it 
was  the  slogan  of  the  People’s  Council  in  Septem¬ 
ber,  1917. 

Roger  N.  Baldwin,  the  admired  and  honored  friend 
of  both  John  Rothschild  and  George  D.  Pratt,  Jr., 
Roger  N.  Baldwin,  the  draft  dodger,  whom  Mr.  Pratt 
calls  “a  conscientious  objector  in  the  most  noble  and 


21 


best  recognized  sense  of  that  term,”  would  most 
heartily  approve  of  Mr.  Rothschild’s  letter  of  instruc¬ 
tions  to  the  Communist  Broch.  It  is  possible  that 
he  would  say  to  Messrs.  Rothschild  and  Pratt,  as 
he  said  to  Louis  P.  Lochner: 

“We  want  also  to  look  like  patriots  in  every¬ 
thing  we  do.  We  want  to  get  a  lot  of  good 
flags,  talk  a  good  deal  about  the  Constitution 
and  what  our  forefathers  wanted  to  make  of  this 
country,  and  to  show  that  we  are  the  folks  that 
really  stand  for  the  spirit  of  our  institutions." 

That  is  what  the  leaders  of  the  Youth  Movement 
in  this  country  are  trying  to  do  with  the  Socialistic 
Student  Forum. 

Continental  Students  All  Socialists. 

The  information  about  the  six  students  brought 
over  is  all  taken  from  the  New  Student. 

ANTONIN  PALECEK,  Prague  University,  active 
in  “Student  Rannaissance  Movement,”  chosen  to 
represent  Cze.cho-Slovakia;  “well  acquainted  with 
the  youth  movements  of  his  own  country.” 
JORGEN  HOLCht,  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  “liberal” 
from  the  age  of  twelve;  active  in  the  University 
Settlement  of  Copenhagen;  took  part  in  workers’ 
education;  mixed  up  with  Quakers  in  England;  ad¬ 
vocate  of  “cooperation”  on  the  Socialist  plan;  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Student  Christian  Movement;  “spoke 
for  the  Youth  Movement  in  all  Scandinavian 
'  countries.” 

PIET  ROEST,  of  the  University  of  Leyden;  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Practical  Idealists  Association,  which  is 
a  “fellowship  of  young  people  loosely  banded  to¬ 
gether  to  live  their  individual  ideals.” 

HANS  TEISLER,  representative  of  the  German 
.  Youth  Movement. 

W.  A.  ROBSON,  London  School  of  Economics. 
JOACHIM  FRIEDRICH,  University  of  Heidelberg, 
another  representative  of  the  German  Youth 
Movement. 

Wanted  Only  Representatives  of  Youth 
Movement. 

In  selecting  these  foreign  students,  Messrs.  Pratt; 
and  Rothschild  wanted  only  representatives  of  the 
German  Youth  Movement,  no  matter  from  what 
country  the  student  came.  The  Youth  Movement 
was  born  in  Germany.  Mr.  Pratt,  in  writing  of  it  as; 
he  found  it,  says: 

“It  shapes  itself  very  much  according  to  en¬ 
vironment  and  national  situation,  but  owing  to’ 
its  intense  idealistic  base,  it  tends  to  unite  in¬ 
ternationally.  Although  it  has  affected  prac¬ 
tically  every  young  person  in  Europe,  it  is  made, 
up  essentially  of  strong  minorities,  and  it  is  with 


22 


these  minorities  that  we  must  deal,  for  in  them 
lies  the  true  life  of  the  movement.” 

He  admits  in  the  next  sentence  that  most  of  the 
y.ouths  in  Europe  are  apathetic  toward  the  movement, 
“or  definitely  reactionary,”  except  in  Germany. 

Mixed  Up  With  the  “MOT  DAG”  Group. 

While  they  were  abroad  Messrs.  Pratt  and  Roths¬ 
child  became  favorably  impressed  with  a  “group”  of 
Communists  in  Norway  referred  to  as  the  “Mot  Dag 
Group.”  To  Zinoviev  of  Moscow,  who  believes  in 
“direct  action,”  the  brand  of  Communism  dispensed 
by  the  “Mot  Dag  Group,”  while  calculated  to  at¬ 
tract  just  such  sentimentalists  as  Mr.  Pratt,  is  not 
quite  all  it  should  be.  At  the  meeting  of  the  “En¬ 
larged  Executive”  last  June  both  Zinoviev  and  Buch- 
arin  said  unkind  things  about  the  “Mot  Dag  Group,” 
to  which  Messrs.  Pratt  and  Rothschild  had,  after 
their  return  to  the  United  States,  sent  affectionate 
greetings.  Nasty  words  were  spoken  by  Bucharin. 
Hoeglund,  Communist  delegate  from  Norway,  pro¬ 
tested,  whereupon  Zinoviev,  answering  Hoeglund, 
said : 

“Hoeglund  defended  the  periodical,  Mot  Dag. 

'  Hoeglund  demands  that  we  should  be  loyal  to 
the  Norwegian  comrades.  Of  course  we  must  be 
loyal  to  comrades,  but  what  must  we  do  to  peo¬ 
ple  who  use  such  shady  weapons  against  us  as 
the  ‘Mot  Dag  Group?’  ...  All  honor  to  the  Nor¬ 
wegian  proletariat!  But  how  can  we  tolerate 
it  when  certain  individuals  write  thus  in  its 
name?” 

Clearly,  this  Mot  Dag  Group,  of  which  Messrs. 
Pratt  and  Rothschild  approve,  is  a  child  of  Moscow 
to  be  disciplined  by  Moscow,  which  shows  how  close 
to  the  Third  International  the  National  Student 
Forum  stands. 

Disciplined  By  Communist  International. 

In  the  same  speech  Zinoviev  made  it  clear  that  the 
“Mot  Dag”  represented  the  Young  Communist 
League,  and  that  the  Young  Communist  League  was 
a  part  of  the  International  at  Moscow. 

“It  is  the  duty  of  the  Young  Communist 
League,”  asserted  Zinoviev,  “to  submit  to  the 
discipline  of  the  International.”  (Let  the  “foam¬ 
ing  youths”  who  have  discarded  all  laws  keep 
this  in  mind;  they  must  “submit  to  the  discipline 
of  the  International.”)  “We  must  object  to 
contemptuous  manner  in  which  the  Youth  Move¬ 
ment  was  referred  to.  The  Youth  Movement  is 
the  best  section  of  the  Communist  International 
and  that  is  as  it  should  be,  because  they  are  the 
heralds  of  the  future.” 


23 


“Give-  our  regards  to  the  ‘Mot  Dag  Group/  ”  wrote 
Messrs.  Pratt  and  Rothschild  in  their  letters  to 
Broch,  the  Norway  Communist  who  was  not  given 
permission  to  land  in  the  United  States.  However, 
it  is  but  just  to  these  young  Americans  to  say  that 
their  admiration  for  the  “Mot  Dag  Group”  was  not 
allowed  by  them  to  lessen  their  loyalty  to  the  Youth 
Movement  as  a  whole.  They  agree  with  Zinoviev 
that  “the  Youth  Movement  is  the  best  section  of  the 
International.” 

“That  strong,  pure,  idealistic  spirit  which  is 
the  Youth  Movement,”  writes  Mr.  Pratt  in  the 
New  Student  for  November  4,  1922,  “stands  far 
above  and  ahead  of  the  other  movements  of  the 
world.” 


Games  In  Physical  Nakedness. 

A  further  reading  of  the  New  Student  should  dis¬ 
pel  any  doubt  that  the  National  Student  stands  for 
all  that  is  embraced  in  the  doctrines  of  the  German 
Youth  Movement.  Take  the  issue  of  December  2, 
1922,  for  example.  On  page  five  is  begun  a  long 
article  by  Lillian  Frobenius  Eagle  on  “A  Confer¬ 
ence  of  Youth  in  Central  Europe.”  A  brief  quota¬ 
tion  will  suffice: 

“As  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  the  Young  Peo¬ 
ple’s  Movement  is  to  awaken  a  new  attitude  and 
feeling  towards  the  human  body,  and  the  nude  is 
regarded  in  the  Hellenic  spirit,  many  of  the 
participants  in  the  game  were  naked.” 

The  entire  article  is  a  panegyric  on  the  Youth 
Movement,  following  closely  along  the  lines  fol¬ 
lowed  by  Mr.  Pratt  in  his  article  on  the  same  sub¬ 
ject  written  from  Germany.  The  youths  of  the  Youth 
Movement  are  called,  in  the  New  Student: 

“The  forerunners  of  a  new  humanity,  the 
prophets  and  seers,  the  torch-bearers  of  those 
who  are  to  accomplish  and  fulfill  their  visions.” 

Miss  Eagle  visualizes  these  spiritual  youths  for 
the  National  Student  Forum: 

“A  lonely  hilltop  in  the  darkness  of  the  sur- 
.  rounding  world.  ...  A  red  glow  of  fire  shining 
on  the  visionary  eyes  of  a  new  youth  whose  gaze 
is  bent  inwards  while  they  stretch  forth  hands  * 
to  the  youth  of  other  lands  to  come  and  join 
their  ranks.” 

And  in  another  paragraph  of  the  same  article: 

“With  eyes  straining  into  the  future,  they  say, 
‘We  are  a  handful  of  young  people,  naked  and 
unknowing,  but  striving  to  realize  God  in  a 
world  of  gross  materialism  by  the  realization  of 
ourselves  in  a  higher  life.  Let  him  who  feels 
the  Call  join  our  ranks  and  help  us.” 


24 


Sex  Studies  “Ideal.” 

To  the  National  Student  Forum  as  a  body  every¬ 
thing  about  the  Youth  Movement  is  “ideal.”  A  cur¬ 
riculum  proposed  by  the  Barnard  students  is  called 
by  these  students,  some  of  whom  are  on  the  executive 
board  of  the  National  Student  Forum,  “ideal.”  This 
curriculum  includes:  “SPECIFIC  HUMAN  DE¬ 
VELOPMENT  OF  SEX- REPRODUCTIVE 
CHILDBEARING  FUNCTION.” 

“a- — The  facts  of  structure,  function,  develop¬ 
ment  and  hygiene  of  the  sex  and  reproductive 
apparatus  of  the  male  and  female. 

"b* — The  outstanding  facts  of  paternity  and 
maternity. 

<<c- — The  effects  of  sex  on  individual  human 
development  from  fertilization  to  maturity. 

“d* — The  nature  and  power  of  the  sex  impulse. 
“e- — The  gradually  developed  sex  controls  im¬ 
posed  on  the  individual  by  society. 

“f- — The  pathological  effects  of  perverse  and 
unsocial  uses  of  sex  in  society.” 

In  this  fulsome  praise  of  the  “daring  young  ladies” 
who  sponsored  this  “ideal”  curriculum,  which  is 
given  in  full  in  the  New  Student,  Upton  Sinclair,  in 
The  Goose-Step,  likens  it  to  the  work  being  done  in 
Germany  by  the  World  League  of  Youth,  and  quotes 
from  the  Manifesto  Weltjugendliga: 

“Comrades!  We  are  united  in  the  hatred  of  the 
institutions  of  our  social  life  and  of  our  time. 
We  ask  ourselves:  whose  fault  are  these  institu¬ 
tions,  this  civilization?  On  whose  conscience 
rest  these  political  systems,  these  schools,  these 
churches,  these  politics,  these  newspapers,  and  so 
much  else?  The  adult  people.” 

“The  unifying  characteristic  of  the  Youth 
Movement,”  says  one  of  the  German  leaders, 
“is  this:  we  no  longer  want  to  obey  laws  that 
come  from  without.  We  want  to  form  our  lives 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  that  are  within  us.” 

There  you  have  it.  The  adult  people  being  re¬ 
sponsible  for  the  present  laws  and  customs,  the  wise 
youths,  boys  and  girls  alike,  will  have  none  of  them. 
They  will  “roll  their  own,”  or  have  none.  And 
Barnard,  with  its  Social  Science  Club  a  working 
constituent  part  of  the  National  Student  Forum,  be¬ 
gins  by  insisting  upon  an  exhaustive  study  of  sex  in 
the  classroom. 

“The  Call  of  Youth.” 

Under  this  head,  in  one  of  the  New  Student  articles 
written  from  Germany,  young  Mr.  Pratt  tells  the 
world  his  opinion  of  the  “old  men.”  You  will  have 
noticed  that  he  writes  the  word,  “civilization,”  when 
he  refers  to  the  pre-war  type,  in  quotation  marks. 
This,  I  take  it,  is  meant  to  show  that  there  was  never 
any  prospect  of  true  civilization  till  youths  such  as 

25 


he  and  Mr.  Rothschild  and  the  Barnard  “daring 
young  ladies2’  took  things  in  hand.  In  the 
which  I  shall  quote  Mr.  Pratt  is  referring,  of  course, 
to  the  youth  of  the  Youth  Movement.  He  says: 

“This  youth  knows  that  the  better,  1 
social  structures  must  be  built  by  it,  and,  not  y 
the  products  of  that  ancient  ‘civilization  which 
crashed  to  ruin  in  the  great  war.  We  in  Amer¬ 
ica  must  realize  our  position  towards  the  youth 
of  other  nations,  and  toward  the  development  ot 
our  own  country  and  its  people  as  a  part  of  thej 
world.  That  youth  is  foolish  and  unreliable,  3 
that  youth  can  not  be  trusted  with  the  responsi¬ 
bility  of  great  things,  is  the  babble  of  old  men.| 
“It  is  they,”  the  wise  and  youthful  Mr.  Pratt ^ 
continues  to  heap  it  up  on  the  babbling  old  men,  j 
“who  have  shown  that  they  are  unfit  to  govern, 
and  decide,  and  it  is  upon  them  the  responsibility j 
for  the  future  rests. 

“We  students  who  are  to  be  the  guides  for 
the  future  must  get  to  know  each  other  ...  We 
must  realize  the  essential  unity  of  our  aims.  .  .  . 
Youth  seems  to  be  uniting,  determined  to  bring 

about  a  new  order.”  1 

That  the  Youth  of  America  might  the  more  clearly 
hear  the  Call,  the  New  Student  announced  in  its 
April  21st  number,  under  the  heading:  “SUMMER, 
WITH  THE  GERMAN  YOUTH  MOVEMENT,” 
that  the  National  Student  Forum  would  send  five  or 
six  students  to  Germany  to  study  the  Youth  Move¬ 
ment.  As  an  inducement,  the  New  Student  added! 

“Our  German  friends  have  submitted  a  plan 
whereby  these  students  may  be  matriculated  at 
a  German  University  where  will  be  gathered 
many  of  those  most  interested  in  the  Youth 
Movement — for  it  is  a  simple  matter  for  a  Ger¬ 


man  to  change  his  University.  The  Americans 
will  later  be  introduced  to  the  new  schools,  the 
prison  work,  etc.,  and  will  finally  go  on  a  Wan- 
dervogel  tramp  perhaps  in  Thuringen.” 

And  so  on  page  six  of  the  New  Student’s  issue  oi 
November  3,  last,  Mr.  Rothschild  has  an  article  tell¬ 
ing  of  the  results  of  that  plan.  He  says  that  or 
June  26  “seven  American  students  waved  good-by< 
from  the  steerage  deck  of  the  steamship  Reliance  t( 
us  on  the  pier.” 

Those  who  went  were:  Arvia  MacKaye,  daughte: 
of  Percy  MacKaye  and  a  student  of  Radcliffe’;  Helei 
Stedman,  graduate  of  the  University  of  Oregon  ani 
a  student  at  Madison,  Wise.;  Lenore  Pelham, 
graduate  of  Rockford  College;  Eugene  Corbie,  j 
negro  student  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  Ne\ 
York;  Howard  Becker,  of  Northwestern  University 
Evanston,  Ill.;  Earl  Bellman,  of  Friends  University 
Wichita,  Kan.;  and  Douglas  Haskell,  of  Oberlii 


26 


Joseph  Chassell  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
and  Ruth  Boardman,  a  Barnard  student,  joined  the 
others  at  Hamburg,  and  remained,  adds  Mr.  Roths¬ 
child,  “with  them  through  most  of  the  trip.” 

Works  In  Harmony  With  Civil  Liberties  Union. 

Not  only  does  the  National  Student  Forum, 
through  its  leader,  George  D.  Pratt,  Jr.,  stand  for 
Roger  N.  Baldwin,  leader  of  the  American  Civil 
Liberties  Union,  but — again  through  Mr.  Pratt — it 
defends  the  American  Civil  Liberties  Union  in  so 
many  words.  Let  me  quote  again  from  young  Mr. 
Pratt’s  letter  to  me: 

“Roger  Baldwin  is  an  upstanding  American 
and  his  patriotism,  which  admittedly  runs  coun¬ 
ter  to  yours,  is  tha-t  love  of  liberty  and  justice 
which  have  constituted  the  greatness  of  the  great 
men  of  the  nation,  and  which  small  men  in  every 
generation  have  mistaken  for  treason.” 

Evidently,  Mr.  Baldwin  has  succeeded  in  “looking 
like  a  patriot”  to  Mr.  Pratt.  He  seems  also  to  have 
succeeded,  with  his  “talk  about  the  Constitution  and 
what  our  forefathers  wanted  to  make  of  this  coun¬ 
try,”  in  making  the  American  Civil  Liberties  Union 
look  like  what  Mr.  Pratt  says  he  believes  it  is:  “A 
bona  fide  American  defense  society.  It  defends,” 
continues  Mr.  Pratt,  “the  basic  American  institutions 
of  law  and  order.” 

Mr.  Baldwin  says,  and  Mr.  Pratt  knew  this  to  be  a 
fact  when  he  wrote  the  letter  from  which  I  am  .quot¬ 
ing,  the  members  of  the  American  Civil  Liberties 
Union : 

“All  of  them  believe  in  the  right  of  persons 
to  advocate  the  ‘overthrow  of  the  government 
by  force  and  violence.’  ” 

He  knew  also  that  the  American  Civil  Liberties 
Union  backs  up  these  “persons”  when  they  are  mak¬ 
ing  such  advocacy,  and  try  to  get  such  “persons” 
out  of  prison  that  they  may  continue  to  “advocate 
the  overthrow  of  the  government  by  force  and 
violence.” 

Mr.  Rothschild  is  a  member  of  the  American  Civil 
Liberties  Union  by  his  own  admission  to  me,  and 
Mr.  Pratt  writes: 

“Despite  the  fact  that  you  see  the  Civil 
Liberties  Union  ‘red,’  it  is,  in  our  observation,  a 
valuable  restraining  agency  at  a  time  when  there, 
is  a  general  recourse  to  violence  in  suppressing 
unpopular  elements.” 

The  American  Civil  Liberties  Union  is  a  supporter 
of,  and  is  supported  by,  the  National  Student  Forum: 
And  the  American  Civil  Liberties  Union,  as  the  Na¬ 
tional  Student  Forum  knows,  has  been  officially; 
listed,  after  a  thorough  investigation,  as  “a  supporter 
of  all  subversive  movements.” 


27 


The 

American  Defense 
Society,  Inc. 

National  Headquarters, 

Suits  1133,  154  Nassau  Street, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Washington  Bureau, 

Suite  709,  Aebee  Building, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

The  Society  is  a  voluntary  membership  organ* 
ization  deriving  its  financial  support  from  the  yearly 
dues  of  its  subscribers.  Join  the  Society  and  help 
in  the  fight  for  American  Defense.  Membership 
schedule  per  year,  Regular,  $1.00 ;  Subscribing, 
$5.00 ;  Contributing,  $10.00 ;  Sustaining,  $50.00 ; 
National  Committeemen,  $100.00;  Donor,  $250.00. 
Write  for  report  of  1922,  list  of  publications,  etc. 


“KEEP  up  the  EIGHT  FOR  AMERICANISM.” — T.  R. 

To  Benj.  L.  Allen,  Treasurer 

The  American  Defense  Society,  Inc., 

154  Nassau  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


_ _ 192 

Dear  Sir: 

Enclosed  is  check  for  $ - 

to  help  carry  on  the  work  of  THE  AMERICAN 
DEFENSE  SOCIETY. 


Name 


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1 . 2.  6. 


IRVING  BANK-  City 
COLUMBIA 
TRUST  CO. 
Depository 


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